Speechless: Part III
by bowtruckle90
Summary: Third installment of "Speechless". Rated M for later installments.
1. Chapter 1

This was a nightmare. Harry hated when his uncle's sister came over and doted on Dudley and brought her ugly dog that ate everything in sight, much like the woman herself. Five minutes after making herself comfortable Harry heard a distinct coo from upstairs. his door was open and the noise must have meant that Hedwig had finally returned from her trip to the Burrow.

He rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time until reaching his modest room. "Shh," Harry whispered, offering the owl a treat. There were two letters tied to her leg, which she stuck out for Harry to remove. One was rather short, and written in Ron's stubby script. The other was quite long and after Ron in his own note recommended reading Ana's letter straight away, Harry broke the seal to hers and began to read.

The letter was full of panic and sadness. A Ministry official had come by the house shortly after the Azkaban incident (Ana recommended trying to find a Prophet if he could so he could catch up). It seemed when the officials handling the case went to question some of the prisoners at the jail, one of the women had somehow gotten her hands on a section of the Prophet that had belonged to the escapee. This portion contained an article about the goings on at Hogwarts the previous year and had mentioned the petrified students by name. The woman, on seeing an official from the Ministry, started pointing to the article and asking if Fabiana was all right. A clerical error had caused this woman's file to become lost somehow, and all the other prisoners were too touched in the head from years in their cells to tell anyone her name. Seems the woman hadn't known that either, but she knew Fabiana. On that note the visitor from the ministry had concluded that he might have found Fabiana's mother. He brought a picture to the house to ask Molly and Arthur to identify her, but they couldn't. They had never met Ana's mother, and never even knew her name. they only knew she was probably not from Britain. The official promised to stay in touch if they found out anything and left. Ana had been wringing her hands every day since in a constant state of worry. Worry over if her mother had been found and worry that she had not. Worry that if it was her what had she done to become a prisoner in Azkaban? She was a wreck and in closing could hardly wait until the summer was over so they could discuss all this in person because at the moment the entire house was silent and tense and it was as though an unwelcome guest had come to stay.

Harry heard his uncle bellowing for him to get his scrawny ass down the stairs. Harry set the letter aside on his bed, thinking that he knew exactly how Ana felt.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus Lupin was walking down the trains' corridor looking toward the driver's cabin when he came across a ruckus in his way. There was a cluster of students standing around and looking at something on the floor. As he got closer he realized it was a girl. She was pale and passed out. After shooing the students away, Remus passed his wand over her body and the girl blinked her eyes, awake if nothing else. "Are you all right?" he asked.

The girl nodded and sighed, shaking her head as if to clear it. Remus offered her some chocolate, which she took happily. As she chewed he asked her, "What compartment number were you in? I can take you back if you want."

She said nothing, but looked up toward footsteps pounding down the hall from where Lupin had come. It was Harry. When he got closer he said, "There you are. All right?"

The girl nodded. Harry crouched down alongside Lupin, saying, "This is Fabiana Prewett, professor, Ron's cousin. She had gone to the loo when the dementors came."

Lupin nodded and said, "Well if you two could go back and rest I think I can take it from here." He stood and continued on toward the driver's compartment while Harry helped Ana up and led her in the opposite direction.

'Did you pass out?' he signed.

Ana nodded. 'It was like everything around me melted away and I was suddenly in my uncle's old room, watching him and my father die.'

'I heard my mom, I think. She was screaming.'

They returned to the compartment in silence, determined not to delve too deeply into what they had experienced at the hands of the guards of the wizard prison of Azkaban.


	3. Chapter 3

"Something happier, Ana. I know you can do it."

Harry was trying to teach Ana how to conjure a patronus. Lupin had been teaching him since the presence of them at the quiddich game. Harry had passed out while on his broomstick and was almost killed. In the interest of his safety, Lupin had offered. I knowing how the monsters affected Ana, so had Harry.

She was having trouble though. It was unusual, since she had never had any real trouble with a spell before. Harry knew his problems in the beginning had stemmed from not thinking about something happy enough. "Just stop a second," he instructed. "Think of something that would make you happier than you've ever been, or something that already has." Ana bit her lips for a moment and then nodded. She was ready. Harry stood back and stayed silent. After a moment a bright fountain of white mist erupted from the tip of Ana's wand and showered her in its light. Harry beamed from ear to ear and applauded as the mist faded away.

"That was great! Even stronger than mine."

Ana smiled pleased with herself.

"What were you thinking about that time."

Ana shook her head, declining to tell. Normally she would have shared anything with Harry, but this was something she would rather keep to herself. In her mind's eye she had imagined the two of them together, alone in a dimly lit room, his hands in her hair as they pressed their lips together…


	4. Chapter 4

Harry was not speaking to anyone. Fortunately everyone aside from Ron and Hermione and Ana and himself was still in Hogsmeade, but Harry had closed the drapes around his bed all the same, not wanting to be disturbed.

He had not only found out that he had a godfather but that his godfather was the notorious prisoner on the run, Sirius Black. And to top it off, he was incarcerated for killing Harry's parents by handing their location to Voldemort and murdering another close friend in the same night.

Harry did not hear the door opening, but he did hear footsteps. As his curtain was being pulled back a little, he sat up with every intention to tell Ron to leave him alone. But it wasn't Ron. It was Ana. She slid onto Harry's mattress beside him and closed the curtain again, enveloping them in semi darkness. Harry didn't say anything, but she didn't sign anything either. Instead she simply sidled up behind him and started stroking his hair.

He imagined she was feeling the same kind of betrayal. A letter had come the morning before from the Magical Law Enforcement office. They had determined that the woman in Azkaban who was asking for her was indeed Ana's mother. They also confirmed why she was there. It seemed that she was convicted of killing of behalf of Voldemort during the war. There was never any indication of bewitchments on her, so she was sentenced the same as any of the other willful followers: according to her crimes. That meant she was there for life. Unfortunately the information came too late for Ana to do anything about it. Her mother, Natalia Korkova, had died in prison.

Ana had been where Harry was now, in her room crying, too ashamed to see anyone, and Harry had been in her place. Comforting her. Harry couldn't help it. The tears came. But surprisingly he found it easier to cry in front of Ana. He felt like she would never judge him for such a moment of weakness. She held him like that well into the night when they could no longer see one another in the dark room, long after everyone had returned, and long after the boys had gone to bed. They stayed for what seemed an eternity, comforting one another in the whirlwind of confusion that seemed to be surrounding the prisoners of Azkaban lately.


	5. Chapter 5

"What is that girl's name Harry? The one who can't speak?"

"Fabiana Prewett. She's Ron's cousin."

"No kidding. I knew her dad before he died."

"Did you know her mom?"

Sirius shook his head. "I didn't know who her mother was. No one did."

Harry shook his head. "You did though. She was…in prison with you. She was in the cell across from you."

Sirius got pensive. He looked over toward Lupin, Pettigrew, Ron, Hermione and the passed out Snape. After a moment of watching the scene he said, "I can see it. I only knew that Natalia was a supported of Voldemort and killed for him." He turned back. "Why do you ask?"

"She died in prison a few months ago. Ana didn't even know it was her mother until a couple months before that."

The silence had grown uncomfortable. They looked up at the castle. "It's beautiful," Sirius observed. "I remember the first time I walked through those doors. It'll be good to walk through them again as a free man. Did you know," Sirius said, "when you were born your parents made me your godfather."

"I know," Harry said, not looking away from the castle.

"Oh," he uttered. "Well I can understand if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle but…if you ever wanted a different life-"

Harry was shocked at what he was hearing. At this he did turn his head, though Sirius continued to avoid his gaze. "Can I live with you?"

"Well, it's just a thought, I mean, I can understand if you don't want to."

Hermione called Harry's name from near the willow. When the boy and the man turned, she was pointing towards the full moon that was beginning to peek out from behind the clouds.


End file.
